


Safe in Your Arms

by Sent2TheBeast



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Angst, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M, Magnus dreams about his mother, Magnus flashback, cw: blood, magnus is sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-21
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2019-01-01 06:07:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12150267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sent2TheBeast/pseuds/Sent2TheBeast
Summary: Magnus smiled softly to himself, “Alexander Lightwood, what would the other Shadowhunter’s think if they saw the Head of the Institute carrying the High Warlock of Brooklyn through the hallways like he’s some blushing bride?"Magnus still has nightmares about his mother's death. Alec and Magnus cuddle.





	Safe in Your Arms

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I started writing this after episode 2x15 aired but only just got around to finishing it, so....here is my super late fic!
> 
> As always comments and criticisms are welcome! You can find me here or at fatal-vision.tumblr.com

As soon as the portal had shut behind the monster and his guards, Magnus’ face fell from the mask he had put on and he allowed himself to feel again. Feel all the anger and pain that he’d suffered because of that man, the exhaustion and the grief that had been eating away at him for days. That had driven all semblance of happiness from his body, all sense of self love and pride. A sudden, unexpected wave of nausea washed over his body, he closed his eyes to steady himself. He could feel Alec shift behind him, and instinctively leaned toward him, his knees going weak, his feet slipping out from underneath him. 

 

“Woah,” Alec caught Magnus around the waist, holding him tightly against his side. “Are you okay?” 

 

“Fine,” Magnus wasn’t quite certain that he even managed to get the words out. “I’m just going to portal home, get a drink, stop…thinking,” 

 

“No, you’re not,” Alec huffed, not unkindly “You’re exhausted, it’s not safe,” 

 

“Alexander,” Magnus protested. 

 

“Magnus, you are the most powerful warlock alive, I know that creating portals takes about as much of your energy as batting those…adorable eyelashes of yours. And if creating one portal did this to you, I cannot in good conscious let you make another one. What if you pass out going through it and end up in limbo?”

 

“Alexander, I promise you, I’m okay,” 

 

“You haven’t slept in four days,” Alec replied, bending over to wrap one arm around the back of Magnus’ knees and pick him up “You can get some sleep on the couch in my office while I finish up some paperwork, and then I’ll walk you home, okay, love?”

 

Magnus smiled softly to himself, “Alexander Lightwood, what would the other Shadowhunter’s think if they saw the Head of the Institute carrying the High Warlock of Brooklyn through the hallways like he’s some blushing bride?” 

 

“They wouldn’t think anything,” Alec replied as he carried Magnus out of the basement, “Because it’s two o’ clock in the morning and everyone is asleep,” 

 

“Put me down, I have a reputation to uphold,” Magnus said as sternly as he could manage while he wrapped his arms around Alec’s neck to secure their embrace, and buried his head in Alec’s shoulder. 

 

“Oh yeah, you look like you’re having a terrible time,” Magnus couldn’t see Alec’s face but he knew exactly what those eyebrows were doing, raising crooked, a teasing light in Alec’s eyes, a half smile on his lips. 

 

Magnus drew a stuttering breath against Alec’s chest, pressing gentle kisses to the Deflect rune on Alec’s neck. He could feel the heat climbing up to Alec’s cheeks, Alec’s skin warm against Magnus’ lips. One corner of his mouth upturned in a smile at Alec’s strangled cry. 

 

“Don’t think you’re getting out of this that easy mister. Trying to sway me with those, ugh, those sinful lips of yours,” 

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Alexander,” Magnus slurred, burrowing his head further in Alec’s shoulder, smiling in earnest when Alec pressed a soft kiss into his hair, and let his cheek rest there. They walked together, letting the silence bathe them, letting the sound of their breath calm them. 

 

Magnus had to keep himself from laughing as Alec laid him down gently on the large couch by the fire place, helping him out of his jacket and shoes. It helped that the first peals of his laughter were cut off with a yawn. “Get some sleep, okay, love?” Alec asked, threading a hand through Magnus’ hair. 

 

Magnus could only yawn, heart swelling in his chest as Alec shrugged the jacket off of his shoulders and placed it carefully over Magnus’ body. Magnus gripped the corner of it with his hand, sighing deeply, drinking in the scent of Alexander that permeated the air. Alec’s phone rang, and Magnus could hear his footsteps retreating to a further corner of the office, where the sound of his voice would not disrupt the peace that had settled in Magnus’ chest. 

 

“Izzy, what’s up?” Alec’s voice was low and musical to Magnus’ ears. Magnus stretched for a moment, wiggling himself deeper into the cushions. Magnus frowned, uncomfortable here, with his neck sprawled out over the arm rest, his socked feet wiggling in the exposed air of Alec’s office. He willed all remaining scraps of his energy forward, thinking of Alec’s room, with the rock hard bed, and obscene lack of decoration, pushing the images of every lunch break they had spent, half dressed and kissing lines down each other’s stomachs locked safely away behind Alec’s door, and he snapped his fingers, warmth flooding his body as the down comforter and comfy pillows Magnus had bought him settled into place. He felt sleep tugging in earnest at his mind. Magnus caught the beginning of Alec’s conversation the “Wait, what?” he asked his sister, and the “Magnus, I told you no more magic!” Before he had curled onto his side, tucked the comforter around him, hugged the pillow to his chest, and promptly fell asleep, his gentle snores punctuating the silence in the office. 

 

He drifted in and out of consciousness, registering but not comprehending the distant sound of alarms, the anxiety in Alec’s voice as he all but whispered into his cell phone trying desperately not to disturb Magnus. “Look, Clary, I know you’re going through a lot right now, and Jace is the last person you want to see, but I need people I can trust leading this mission, and you two -“ 

 

Everything else was lost to darkness, as exhaustion overtook Magnus’ body once more and plunged him in to sleep. 

 

_

 

The air was cool, and damp, like so many nights after a full day of rain, he could feel the panic and the fear in his chest, unsure of the reason. He pressed forward, his bare feet treading quietly, quickly across woven rugs, and hard wood floors. His fingers pressed carefully against the intricately carved door, this hallway was small, but the sheer amount of detail that went in to every hard surface of the place more than made up for it. He tiptoed in to the room, holding his breath, even though it had been catching in his throat for what had seemed like hours. Where was Mama? Where could she have gone? The room was alight, candles scattered throughout, wind toying with the curtains. A woman in bed, lying still. “Mama?” he called out, curious, unsure. The woman’s eyes were closed, her face peaceful, and it looked like his Mama, but there was something there that made her seem like a stranger. Some level of freedom that Magnus had never before seen. “Mama?” she remained still, too still, her eyes did not flicker, she did not reach out to scoop him in to the bed like she had so many nights before, before she had started to become afraid of him, before she had grown quiet whenever he entered the room. He could feel it again, the panic, the fear, it overwhelmed his body. Something was wrong, he knew it, he reached for the sheets, that had covered his mother’s body like a shroud, and he yanked them back, his small fists shaking. No, no, no, no, no this wasn’t right, there was red all over her nightgown, the karis his step-father kept above the hearth buried deep into her stomach. “Mama!” he yelled, and he yelled, and he yelled, but she was already gone. 

 

“MAMA! MAMA,” Magnus gasped, rocketing upward, struggling for breath. His stomach twisted painfully, and before he could think, he had snapped his fingers and pulled a trashcan from thin air. Just in time to expel his dinner, and whatever was left of the whiskey he had tried to drown his sorrows in. Tears stung painfully in his eyes, sweat stuck his hair to his forehead. He could not catch his breath, he was shaking, his body wracked with sobs he couldn’t hold at bay. 

 

“Hey,” Alec slid in to view, grasping Magnus’ hands in his own, resting a hand on Magnus’ cheek “Shhhhh, it’s okay. You’re okay, babe, I’m right here,” Alec brushed Magnus’ hair away, pulled him close to his chest, and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead. Magnus clutched at Alec like a drowning man to a life boat. Sobs muffled into Alec’s shirt. “Okay,” Alec said softly. Magnus reached for Alec’s right hand as he pulled it away from Magnus’ back, though he still traced gentle lines into the back of Magnus’ neck with his left. Magnus could feel Alec shifting, tugging, and pulling, presumably at his boots. “You’re okay, Magnus. It’ll all be okay.” Alec pulled back from Magnus for a moment, their bodies pressing together for the briefest of moments as Alec scrambled over his boyfriend and turned to his side, back pressed up against the couch cushions, arms wrapping around Magnus’ shaking body. Like a moth to flame, like a magnet to iron, Magnus turned so they were face to face. They dissolved into each other’s arms until they were nothing but a tangle of limbs. Alec pulled Magnus close, Magnus curled in to him instinctively, letting his head come to rest underneath Alec’s chin. “I just can’t get her out of my head,” Magnus whispered. 

 

“I know, babe,” Alec whispered in his ear, wiping the tears from his eyes, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead. “What can I do?” 

 

“Just hold me,” Magnus’ voice was shaky, and held the weight of four centuries within it. “I just-“ whatever he wanted to say was cut off by shaky breaths and eyelids pressed together so tightly, Alec thought Magnus might never open them again. 

 

“Hey,” Alec whispered, sliding an arm around Magnus’ waist and pulling him close. “I’ve got you,” 

 

Alec could see the small, trembling smile that tugged for the briefest of seconds at Magnus’ cheek, before it was wiped away. Magnus nodding curtly, as if to convince himself of the truth of it. He rinsed his mouth out with a little magic, before pressing a soft kiss to Alec’s lips. 

 

Alec pressed their foreheads together, pulling at Magnus once more so their chests were pressed together, so he could feel the erratic beating of Magnus’ heart through the thin fabric of his shirt, so he could feel the rapid rise and fall of Magnus’ chest. “I’m not going anywhere,” Alec soothed “Get some sleep, love. I’ll be right here when you wake up,” 

 

“Okay,” Magnus wormed his arms around Alec, holding him tight, hugging him close, drinking in the steady sounds of his breathing, letting it wash over him like waves crashing against a shore. Letting it fill his body like white noise, drowning out the voice of Magnus’ step-father, the screams as he died, still as sharp and as clear as the day he had heard them. A tentative calm settled over Magnus’ body, he could feel it tugging at him, wiping away the tension in his shoulders and the furrow in his brow. Feeling Alec’s skin against his own, his hands across his back, their legs entangled so there was no knowing whose were whose, and he finally felt at peace. Felt at home in Alec’s arms. “I love you,” Magnus whispered.

 

“I love you too,” 

 

It was the last thing he heard as he succumbed to sleep, and it made his heart swell. And when the dreams came, they were not of his mother or of the magic burning away at his step-fathers skin. They were of Alec, bathed in sunlight, the taste of his skin, the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled, the way he held Magnus, the sound of his voice, erasing the pain in his heart until it was nothing more than a dull ache. 


End file.
